What Michigan Edge Dom Nichols Said About Win Over WMU, Looking Ahead to Oklahoma

Dominic Nichols was one of the more impressive Michigan players in the game against Western Michigan, finishing with 9 total tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and 1.5 sacks. He was very good against the Broncos, and looks to be a player on the rise. It would be a very positive development for Michigan's defense if he can keep playing at this high of a level.

Following his performance, Dom Nichols appeared on the 'In the Trenches' Podcast with former Michigan football player and current game broadcaster Jon Jansen. The episode was released on September 9th, and he had a few notable things to say, both about the past game against Western Michigan as well as looking ahead to Oklahoma. Let's dive into what Dominic Nichols had to say in this media appearance below.

On the Western Michigan game

"Not exactly happy with how the game went obviously, but we learned a lot from it. There's room to improve always, but I think we know what we have to do going into this next week."

I believe this is exactly what you'd want to hear from Michigan players following a win, especially with the way it happened. You can tell the game and how they played didn't sit well with them at all, and hopefully they'll be able to take a bunch of lessons from it that will help them as soon as this week.

Dom Nichols himself seems to indicate that that is indeed the case, and I take that as a good sign that somebody who played as well as he did individually in this game is not at all satisfied with the ultimate team result. It's easy as a player to get caught up with your individual performance, but a good leader and teammate is far more concerned with how the whole team played than his own performance. It gives me hope that the rest of the team will also be following in his lead.

On Oklahoma

On what lessons they've learned and what they want to do better against the Sooners - "Limiting stupid penalties and getting off the field on third down. I think those are the biggest things for our defense."

Once again, I totally agree with Dom Nichols and where his head is at following this game. He nails it on the head that the defense played pretty well overall given the circumstances but they need to cut down on the dumb penalties and to get off the field better on third downs.

The defense was flagged for some costly penalties, with Jyaire Hill having a pass interference that negated an interception by him on the play. Smith Snowden also had a late hit out of bounds that cost them another 15 yards. There was also an offsides penalty on the defense in this game.

As for the third down defense, Western Michigan was able to convert 8/18 for first downs and that number is simply too high considering the opponent.

Now, knowing what to fix and being able to fix it in just one week are two separate things, but based on what Dom Nichols had to say in this media appearance it sounds like him and the rest of the team are at least very aware of what they need to clean up ahead of their matchup with the Oklahoma Sooners. The biggest question mark remaining is how long does it take for them to get these issues fixed, and can it be done in just one week. If Michigan wants to accomplish its goals this season, it will have to be.

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